Hollywood History launches with lots of Star Trek stuff!

My first friend in props (I met him in the line for Christie's Star Trek auction) Dana Hammontree, and Wesley Cannon, the admin of a popular movie prop blog, have launched "Hollywood History", a prop company dedicated to bringing props, costumes & such to collectors at reasonable prices. Dana has been collecting props & costumes longer than almost anyone I know and is a good person to start a new company to serve collectors.

Hollywood History joins The Prop Store of London and Screen Used Props in the field of direct sale and consignment of props & costumes through fixed price sales. While both PSOL and Screen Used are good companies with solid reputations, the problem with these sites has often been outrageous prices and high mark ups.

I know personally I have seen items on Screen Used at prices I would never pay. One Star Trek costume I was interested in was a bit expensive, disappeared from their site, and reappeared at twice the price! Now, to be fair, Screen Used is mostly consignment and they list items at the price their customers want. So if their customers are have unreasonable expectations, then the listed price will be high. But Screen Used has a great site (though the search is not very good as there is no search box) and makes great custom display cases. Jeff and Desi are well respected in the community and do a good job.

Also, there has been a lot of information coming out about the mark-ups that some prop shops charge. 100% - 500% or even higher mark ups are the norm it seems. In fact, frustration with these mark-ups was one of the reasons that Hollywood History was started.

Hollywood History will have to deal with the consignment pricing issues, but they have a few large collectors consigning who are not happy with the crazy prices in the hobby. Going through the site, I found all the Star Trek props & costumes are at reasonable prices (I even bought something!). Dana has said they will make sure that consignors don't ask for unrealistic prices, as they know that reflects poorly on them.

Hollywood History has a ton of Star Trek pieces, so check out their site, and know that Dana and Wes will take great care of you!

Alec

Fake TOS Phaser on eBay

Well, there is a fake TOS Phaser on eBay right now. It not only doesn't look right, but the Phaser has a hologram, similar to the ones we use at Propworx (though not as elegant!) on it with a COA from CBS!

Well, not really. That is what the seller claims. CBS has never, to my knowledge, handed out a COA like this, and they certainly don't authenticate 45 year old props.

I will keep you all posted on what the seller says, but in the mean time I have reported this to eBay and CBS.

Alec

More Star Trek Auction News

Well, it seems I need to put up an FAQ as I got bombarded with emails. So here is the skinny:

1) The Propworx Star Trek auction is tentatively scheduled for June 18-20 at the Pasadena Convention Center. We have a lot of deadlines, and the Star Trek Experience assets may force us to push this back. Stay tuned here.

2) The auction will be live, but as with the Battlestar Auctions, will have an Internet component so anyone anywhere can bid. There will be a preview day with panels of Star Trek artists, prop makers, costumes designers and more!

3) There will be a paper catalog, which will be in our new hardcover format. It will blow you away!

4) There are items from TOS, the movies, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise.

5) We are taking consignments for the auction. So if you have an item you are interested in submitting, please contact me at alec@propworx.com.

6) Please don't send me any questions on the Star Trek Experience assets yet. We are still working through details. And the warehouse sale date is currently TBD. Just follow this blog for updates.

Alec

Propworx Star Trek auction gets more interesting

Well, this week we had an interesting development. It looks like Propworx will be adding the physical assets of the Star Trek Experience from the Hilton into our Star Trek Auction.

This will mean the auction is being pushed into June for sure. At the moment it is scheduled for June 18-20 at the Pasadena Convention Center. Because we are producing an amazing catalog, and the Star Trek Experience assets need to be brought back from their current location to our warehouse, cleaned up, described and photographed and then put in the catalog layout.

So what is the story with the Star Trek Experience assets? Well, after the Experience closed, the show was taken apart. Everything from the museum part, which was the props & costumes, was put in a storage facility where it remains. of course most of those items were replicas, and most were not in great shape. The items were all on display under flourescent lights which of course damaged everything. All of the fixtures, tables from Quark's bar, walls, ships and store fixtures were taken down and put in a warehouse as the Experience was supposed to come back as a new ride in Neonopolis, a downtown Vegas destination.


The costumes the actors wore were also stored there along with all the seats from the two motion-control rides. We have some great items, like the Quark's bar signs (2), two of the portable bars from the upstairs private party area, all the custom made store fixtures from the retail area (truly beautiful!), Borg Alcoves, wall panels and seats from the new ride, which are like Captain's Chairs and you guys will go NUTS over them!

We are going to Vegas to move everything to our warehouse at the end of the month, but we will not be taking many items, including all the tables and chairs from Quark's Bar, most of the wall panels, and most likely the Borg Alcoves. These items will be sold at an on-location warehouse sale at a date TBA. Fans will be able to come, view the items and buy them on-site and take them home. More information to follow.


And if you have a LOT of room, feel free to contact me about the ships. The Klingon ship will be going back to Propworx for restoration. The Enterprise D is a total loss. The Enterprise A is HEAVY and HUGE but in good shape. The Voyager is as well.

Email me at alec@propworx.com for more info on the ships. For everything else, please wait for more updates here.

Alec

NOTE: CBS still plans on doing a new "Experience", but will not be using these assets, as these assets were very specific and customized to the Hilton Show.